In Whack

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

The ultimate reference comes in the climactic duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi on the planet of Mustafar, which seems to have long ago failed in its struggle against global warming. "If you're not with me, you're my enemy," Anakin shouts to Obi-Wan, who responds: "Only a Sith lord deals in absolutes." Yes, and so, it would seem, do neo-cons.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

The "Eeeeaaarggggh" post of the day:

QandO has a post on Oregon's study of whether it should tax its citizens for the miles they drive and charge extra for driving in congested areas. How would they know? Why, a GPS on every car, of course!

So imagine: the state will know where you are at all times, charge you for every mile you drive, and charge you a bit more if you have the temerity to drive in "congested" areas, perhaps because you've gone into a "congested" area every day to do something silly like work. And you'll pay for it. Oh, how you'll pay...

The funny part is Oregon is considering this because the State fears the revenue it loses from the gas tax as people switch to hybrid vehicles. So those who are trying to save money by driving these cars are hit by the double whammy of more taxes and GPS surveilance via the Sauronic eye of the State (along with everyone else).

That can't be good. Probably because it shows Darth Vader cutting down E.T. wannabes with much glee.

If you hadn't seen that, take a look at Episode 1. In one of the scenes in the Senate, you can see one of the pods contains a couple of E.T.-like creatures. Too bad he couldn't also sneak in a tribute to AvP, with Predators and Aliens floating around. Then we could have AvPvDVvET.

UPDATE: John Podhoretz over at NRO hated it. I don't have advanced tickets or anything like that, but I'll still see it early on. And I'll like it, I know I will. I'm not hard to please. As long as they avoid a scene of Jar Jar on the bow of a Star Destroyer yelling "Meesa king ova the galaxy!", I'll be okay.

to this discussion on the supposed right to health care [thanks for letting me butt in] is that, on principle, there is no such right. Rights are (should be) negative in nature, limiting what others can do to you and your stuff. Rights do not place obligations on others.

But if you have the right to healthcare, that places an obligation on someone else to provide it. What about the provider's rights? They are subjugated to yours, forgotten. This is a distortion.

I'd like to borrow a point from the original post and use it here: people could no more decide they have a right to healthcare than they could decide they have a right to own slaves. The comparison may seem a little extreme, but the principle is the same.

A dance teacher working for a public school district was terminated from her job after a complaint that she used religious music in her instruction. The complaint came from a school district staff member who alleged that the music referenced Jesus several times. In addition to secular music on the day in question, the instructor used a rendition of Dona Nobis Pachem and O Si Funi Mungu. Dona Nobis Pachem is a classical piece by J.S. Bach and is sung in Latin. O Si Funi Mungu, which is translated as “Praise God,” is sung in Swahili, though it has some English interspersed.